Sure, it’s easy to be confident when you’re team hasn’t played a single game yet, but it’s also very easy to be intimidated and nervous on your first day of a new job.

Confident he was, intimidating and nervous he was not.

Wednesday morning the Bruins made it official, naming Don Sweeney the team’s new General Manager. Later Wednesday afternoon, Sweeney, CEO Charlie Jacobs and President Can Neely met with the media.

Sweeney was calm and confident in his answers where he addressed everything from the future of Claude Julien to what he looks for in a Bruin. Meeting the media for the first time as GM, Sweeney talked the talk; now it’s time for Sweeney to walk the walk.

“We have some challenges; we have some flexibility issues that we have to get back out in front of that we have to address head-on. And we have to get back a little bit the aggressiveness that is lost in our group,” Sweeney said in his opening statement with the media.

“And maybe that’s a result of being a little stagnant at times, to get ourselves in situations where we didn’t make adjustments and changes that at times you were comfortable to a degree of some of the success that we had been achieving. The group had won a Stanley Cup and gotten back to the finals, there’s a lot to be said for that.”

Sweeney’s demeanor was impressive. His answers were straight to the point and seemingly honest. Sweeney knows what he wants to do as General Manager and made it sound as if he is not afraid to make the moves necessary to reach his goals.

Sweeney also made a few interesting comments. Ones that went against the way Chiarelli and current head coach Claude Julien view(ed) things pertaining to the Boston Bruins.

“That’s where the impatience come in at times and we’ve made some mistakes and allowed some players to leave this organization that we might regret,” Sweeney said in regards to the development of young players. “But going forward, I’d like to allow us the opportunity to not have the impatience and the integration peaks, and to work with them and allow them the proper time at the NHL level to get acclimated. You can’t trade anything in this league for experience.”

Sweeney knows a thing or two about expectations here in Boston and he is ready to tackle whatever is thrown his way.

“I’m excited about the challenge in front of us to get back to where we need to get to,” Sweeney added. “I know what it’s like to be booed in this city, to be cheered in this city, as a player, and I expect at times to take criticism. But that’s part of it.”

As the Bruins look to change the dynamic of the team to a more balanced team, Sweeney seems like the perfect man for the job. It appears the days of the “Big Bad Bruins” are gone, well, at least for now.

“To be a successful team we’re going to have a blend of skill, size, speed, grit, all of the components it takes to win. So we have to be very aware of that,” Sweeney stated. “I use Ryan [Spooner] as an example because he has areas of his game that he has to continue to improve that I described as ‘hard skill’”

Sweeney certainly has a grocery list of tasks ahead of him in the coming days. With coaching to player decisions on the horizon, Sweeney’s days are about to become more hectic and stressful. How he handles the craziness and stress during the day to day operations remains to be seen. But if the confidence shown in Wednesday’s press conference is any indication of how Sweeney feels about his ability to run this team, good things may be in store for the Bruins.